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Ariana Undómiel Soleil is a young elf of the ancient order Taiyo Kensei, the famed Sword Saints of the Golden Kingdom. While the order is known for its heroics, chivalry, and honor, the high inquisitor felt her talents made her a better underhand than sword hand, so she was trained instead in the arts of deception, stealth, and subterfuge.

Appearance

Ariana has vibrant blue eyes and long golden hair, and takes great effort not to hide her perfect figure beneath bulky priest's robes, instead opting for a series of sundresses and silk stockings, and occasionally a thin, gossamer mantle woven from spider's silk. Within the confines of the human-dominated Golden Kingdom, her exotic features and wild looks have caught the eye of a hundred noblemen seeking mistresses, but they would be saddened to learn that Ariana has devoted herself to the sun god and has taken a vow of chastity, a pact she has not broken lightly.

She is a lithe acrobat and quiet stalker, possessing a sharp tongue and rapier wit tempered by sound judgement, a byproduct of her race's contemplative nature and a lifetime of religious scholarship. She is a fearsome sight to behold in combat; faster than any man could ever hope to be she strikes with ferocity, weaving nimbly through attackers to destroy her single sworn target. Only when his blood is spilled to consecrate the battleground does she move on to the next.

Personality

Ariana is quiet and contemplative, owed to spending a portion of her life in fear and the remainder in study. Her patience is legendary, believing that if one remains calm an enemy will show you his weakness. In stark contrast, once this weakness is revealed, she moves so swiftly to strike that her opponent doesn't have a chance, whether in conversation or in combat. She has a gift for manipulation and does not hesitate to press this to her advantage, and she is also adept at creating and using disguises.

For the indecent acts she has committed in the name of her god, Ariana feels some remorse, but she forces back the guilt and rationalizes that these deeds needed to be done by someone, so why not someone so capable as she? She is brave in the face of danger, and wears her faith as a shield instead of armor.

Though Ariana is a member of a male-dominated order and seeks to succeed in a man's world, she is still very much a woman. She loves silk clothing, gold jewelry, and dark chocolate, has a pet rabbit named Sir Hoppington, and loves reading tragedies about star-crossed lovers. Her preferences in men are the rugged, masculine type, a fascination that probably results from her lifetime spent in a militant religious order and especially the paternal love she bears for her foster father. Because of the tendency of elven and eladrin men to not fit this stereotype, she has traditionally sought companionship outside of her own race, both romantically and in friendship.

History

Ariana was a foundling, rescued as a young girl by the Sword Saints of the Taiyo Kensei when her village was destroyed by an orc horde. Though the high inquisitor commanded that the child be sent to an orphanage, she was instead raised in secret by the paladin Cidolfus Orlandeau until she was of age to join the monastery. Despite the order's preference for the broadsword, she was trained to use an elven weapon, the hooked blade known as the khopesh.

Because of her race, Ariana struggled to fit in with the humans of the Golden Kingdom and her urbanized cousins in the eladrin, but she quickly found acceptance within the confines of the monastery and devoted herself fully to the sun god Pelor, whose faith and faithful she protects through overt and covert means. She is willing to bend or break most of the Kingdom's laws to ensure its prosperity, believing that her illicit dealings are justified.

Even though she grew up knowing nothing of her people or their history but from the misinformed humans and bigoted eladrin, Ariana has always been curious about her race and the Great Wilds where they dwell. She has a few happy memories of her mother, a beautiful elf with long, blonde hair who used to spend hours weaving flowers into both of their hair. When she thinks of her mother, she is usually overcome with sadness.

She remembers almost nothing of her father, except that he was tall and slender and armed with a bow the size of a man, and she remembers vividly the curse he uttered as he was cut down by a dozen orcs in the wilds, which she now recites as her oath of enmity. The mere utterance of her mysterious elven curse means certain doom for those forsworn to die under her oath:

"Let my aim be true so that your bones may bleach beneath the sun."

Mission

Ariana was sent to the outpost village of New Haven by High Inquisitor LaCroix to investigate several claims that Grandmarshal Dugan, the inquisitor's effeminate third cousin (once removed), is a sodomite, which is strictly forbidden by the pro-life Church of Galahad. If she deems him to be guilty of these crimes, she is to silence him permanently and in secret to protect the church and LaCroix's family. When she arrived, she found Dugan certainly lived an extravagant and fanciful lifestyle, but until she witnesses him engaging in sodomy or simply collects more evidence and testimony, she won't move against him, and has instead tasked herself with gaining his trust, performing several errands for New Haven that someone of her abilities (and those of her companions, the Inhuman League) can accomplish easily.

An additional complication is the village of New Haven itself, which seems to be kept afloat solely by Dugan's wealth: the mercenaries he hires as guards protect the village and keep the peace, and his demand for extravagance and finery keeps stocked caravans braving the wilderness between Terrapin and New Haven. If Dugan is a sodomite, does she follow the high inquisitor's order to assassinate him, or return to him to report that Dugan allows New Haven to support the inquisitor's decree of manifest destiny into the Great Wilds, and possibly even lie about the grandmarshal's sexual preferences?

Girl Problems

Boys, Boys, Boys

Knight Templar Andraus Ariana has fallen madly and completely in love with Knight Templar Andraus and is determined to break her vow of chastity to conceive a half-elf baby with him so they can retire from adventuring together to dress their baby up in cute little outfits in the adorable nursery of their posh townhouse in Galahad. Since the Inhuman League returned from the Great Wilds, she hadn't missed a church service until the League left New Haven to eradicate the necromancer cult that's been so active lately.

Ragnar Lodbrok While traveling south into the Great Wilds from New Haven, Ariana and her traveling companion Ragnar Lodbrok held a dogmatic debate pitting the philosophies of the sun god Pelor against Moradin, the dwarven All-Father. After several pints of dwarven holy water, they stalemated and fooled around in the back of the danger cart. She's over him; his breath smelled like bratwurst and his mustache tasted of cheese.

Lazerus She's only heard whispered rumors about the necromancer Lazerus and none of them were positive, but even though he opposes the Golden Kingdom and the sun god Pelor, stories of a powerful Elven freedom fighter (like her biological father, after all) who opposes her foster nation's tyranny has at least intrigued her. Maybe he'll turn out to be a terrible liar and a douche like all of those other necromancers, but until then she'll keep trying to deny her feelings for the mysterious sylvan bad boy.

Mood Swings

d12

Mood

1

Menstrual cramps, bloating, feeling ugly, easily annoyed.

2

Feels like no one ever listens and doesn't respect her.

3

Mad at you for forgetting that thing she never told you.

4

She's either really hungry because she hasn't eaten in an hour or really full because she ate a grape.

5

She's just feeling kind of "blah" today.

6

This is the generic, default mood.

7

This is the generic, default mood… plus flirting.

8

She bought the cutest new shoes and nothing but you can ruin this mood.

9

Everything you do is sweet and/or adorable.

10

Wants to have a baby.

11

Wants to make a baby. Now.

12

Thinks she might be in love! <3

Miscellany

Magic Item Wish List

Because a striker needs to be hitting hard and often, I have selected items to heal her, increase her defenses, and otherwise gain bonuses or actions, often with properties rather than item powers. This approach will ensure that she stays alive and deals large damage for as long as possible. I updated the list to reflect how much Ariana wants a specific item, with 1 being the item she wants the most and 8 being the item she'd like the least.

Magic Items Possessed

Favorite Things

Animal: lop bunnies. Their giant, floppy ears and big stupid faces are too adorable not to want to hug for the rest of her life. Her favorite megafauna is probably the owlbear for its noble bearing, and her favorite breed of horse is the appaloosa.

Color: gold. After seeing the splendor of the Golden Palace looming above Galahad when she arrived in the Golden Kingdom as a girl, Ariana has been obsessed with wearing the color and owning the precious metal.

Drink: dark red fruit wines. Though her stepfather was always a beer man, Ariana watched the drinks of those around her and decided on the noble ladies' goblets of deep red sophistication over the tavern wenches' frothy mug of brown sadness.

Flower: hibiscus. This large, pretty flower grew all over the jungles where she was born and her mother used to wear one in her hair. In courtly dress, Ariana echoes this custom and she has a small planter of them in her bedchamber.

Food: spinach salad with apples and pecans. No matter how hard she tried, Ariana bore no love for human cuisine and instead preferred that of her cousins in the Eladrin. This traditional dish reminds her of the family that was taken from her. She also enjoys journey bread, dark chocolate, and occasionally roast fowl. Her least favorite foods are sausage, mustard, and sauerkraut.

Holiday: either the Feast of St. Ajora or the Macabre Masquerade. Ariana loves to laugh and dance with friends and usually drinks way too much wine, but sometimes you just need to unwind and not let the fear of regret hold you back. Her father never agreed, hmm.

Season: spring. The celebration of life and rebirth brings Ariana tranquility and improves her mood. Her least favorite season is autumn, a season of death, and causing her considerable anxiety as a constant reminder that winter is coming, even though she enjoys the beauty of winter when it arrives.

Story: That one about the unspectacular follower of Vecna who was forced to choose between her love for a vampire and a werewolf. Only in the end does she realize that they are both monsters and she takes her own life in shame, while paladins of Pelor storm the vampire's castle.

Workout: parkour. Despite being in perfect physical condition, Ariana is absolutely convinced she could stand to lose two (maybe two and a half?) pounds and works out constantly. Even when she's seemingly relaxed, she's doing leg lifts that are imperceptible to the human eye. She calls them "hummingbirds."